Some disappointing news for Conan enthusiasts and fans of Funcom’s Age of Conan as today the team announced that the next project in the Age of Conan IP, Conan Exiles, will be delayed as the team want to implement further polish and features before exposing the game to the public. Recently Funcom announced they’d received a new wave of funding to support the new IP, leading many to believe the additional funding has allowed for more time for the team to create the Conan experience so many crave.
The news comes from a new Facebook post by Conan Exiles Creative Director, Joel Bylos, in which he explains the reasons behind the delay – a delay that changed the original expected date of the first Alpha testing window to January 2017.
[quote cite=”Joel Bylos, Conan Exiles Creative Director”]Dear Exiles,
At the start of this year we began work on our first game in the Conan Universe since our 2008 MMO Age of Conan. We were nervous about returning to the world of Conan, because despite its flaws, Age of Conan did an amazing job of capturing the essence of the Hyborian Age. But we were excited as well because the world of Conan is brimming with the potential for more and greater adventures.
Conan Exiles is a different type of game for us and we have approached its development with an eye for the mechanics that make the survival sandbox genre so compelling, while attempting to bring the style and flavour of the Conan universe.
When we set out on this journey, we wanted to invite you, the players, to join us on the path. Our goal was to reach Early Access in September and then fling wide the gates, gathering feedback and allowing you to vote on the future of the project. This has not changed. But our circumstances have.
Almost two weeks back, we revealed that our plan had been to bring Conan Exiles into Early Access in September this year. Since then, we have looked closely at the game and our production schedule, and we have been reading all of the feedback we have received from you as well as the feedback and expectations we have received from fans of the genre. We have come to realize that we would like to spend a little more time creating our vision of Hyboria before we release it into Early Access. Having very recently secured additional funding for our studio which has made our financial situation much more flexible than even just a few weeks back, we want to take advantage of that and move Early Access to January 2017. With the extra time in development, we believe we can make a better game for you, the fans.
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Source: Facebook